Page 35 of Inventions of the Heart

CHAPTER

TEN

DORADA RIO WASN’T WHAT MICHELLE HAD THOUGHT OFwhen she heard it called a mining town. It had a settled look with a broad main street and two rows of buildings with tidy boardwalks in front of them.

The group had ridden into Dorada Rio along a street with dozens of tightly squeezed, miserable-looking houses. These gave way to nicer houses, larger ones with room for backyards and pretty front porches.

Finally, they rode down a street with regal houses, many favoring the Victorian style Michelle’s papa had used to build his own house. Though none of these was as pretty and whimsical as the Stiles mansion.

“This town is long past the gold boom,” Zane said quietly as they left the beautiful row of houses behind and came toward the business section of town. Dozens of businesses, built close enough to share walls, ran down each side of Main Street, each store with its own false front. Façades thatsquared off the otherwise peaked roofs, to make the buildings appear to be a full two stories.

“Men have their own claims, but they’re poor yielding things,” Zane said. “So they sign on with the mining businesses and make a decent living, if they aren’t fools with their money. Many live a solid existence, though the work is hard.

“Prices are high for most things here, so there isn’t much left after food, clothing, and coal for the stove. We usually drive our cattle into Sacramento. We get good money for them there, though it pays even better to take them to San Francisco, so some years we do that. But I always drive a hundred head or so into Dorada Rio. I get decent money, but with only a thousand people living here, they can’t use much more of a herd. Not all at once.”

“Do you have that list of parts Jilly and I made up last night?” Michelle asked.

“Yep, I’ll talk with the general store, lumberyard, and blacksmith, get it all headed our way fast.”

Satisfied, Michelle watched as people strolled down the boardwalks. They’d been built up just a step above ground level. It would keep feet out of the mud that must plague the area during wet seasons.

Jilly rode beside Michelle on her right while Annie rode beside Zane on his left and on past her, Beth Ellen. The five of them rode abreast on the wide, dirt street of Dorada Rio. Several men, including Jarvis Benteen, formed a second row.

Annie had come along to testify. Beth Ellen insisted on coming for the wedding. They’d left Caroline behind with Gretel Steinmeyer. A jail was no place for a child.

Zane pointed to the end of the block, and they went around the corner to find the sheriff’s office in a buildingstanding off just a bit from the others. Zane rode up, dismounted, and led the women inside. Shad and Rick dragged Jarvis along between them.

Michelle followed Zane in the door, looking at everything with keen interest. She’d never been in a jail before.

The sheriff, a tall, slim man with short dark hair and a clean-shaven face, rose from the desk and gave a nod. “Zane.”

“Sheriff Stockwood, this man broke into my home last night and assaulted two women. I got to them before terrible harm was done.”

Hugo Stockwood had sharp eyes. They flickered to Michelle and Jilly, then to Annie and Beth Ellen. Michelle could see he recognized Zane’s sisters. Then the sheriff’s eyes went to Jarvis Benteen and narrowed, turning hard as stone.

“Jarvis, you broke into Zane’s house?”

“I was drinking, Sheriff. I didn’t know what I was doing. I frightened these women, and I’m sorry about—”

“Save the lies, Benteen. No reason to be out around Zane’s place that late at night. And drinking might work as an excuse between two drunks in a bar, but it’s no excuse to assault a woman in her own bedroom, you coyote.”

Benteen, smug and arrogant to the end, flushed with anger. Evil flashed in his eyes. Michelle was afraid they’d made a bad enemy. She hoped they kept him locked up tight.

The sheriff turned to snag a key hanging on a nail behind his desk. He went to a wooden door to the side of where he sat, swung it open, and led the way toward a cell. Shad and Rick followed with Jarvis. Zane went in with them, and Michelle went to the door. Zane swung the door shut, but she stopped it in time. She and Jilly wanted to see the jail.She glanced back to see Annie, unusually somber and pale, coming in behind Jilly. Beth Ellen stayed behind. Maybe she’d seen a jail before.

With a metallic clink, the sheriff turned the key in the cell’s lock. Shad and Rick escorted Jarvis in, then stepped back. All of them watched carefully as Sheriff Stockwood slammed the door with a loud bang and twisted the key. All of them trooped back to the front of the sheriff’s office.

They gave the sheriff all the details about Annie’s ranch being stolen, her husband and two cowpokes killed. The sheriff knew exactly who Horace Benteen was, knew him well enough to take threats very seriously.

He stepped out and sent someone running for his deputy. “I’m going to pick a few men I know I can trust and have them stay close. We’ll have the trial later today, and if he’s found guilty, I’ll have him transported right away to the state prison.”

San Quentin. A fairly new prison near San Francisco. The sheriff went on. “I want him out of this town.”

“Horace has to know he’s in trouble,” Zane said. “He’d’ve wanted a report, and Jarvis hasn’t shown up with one.”

“Horace Benteen hired murder. Sure as can be he did it. I’m going to throw him in that cell right along with his son on the smallest charge. And showing up here, threatening a jailbreak, is plenty.”

Once the questioning was done, Zane shook the sheriff’s hand, and they all left. Standing outside on the tidy boardwalk, Zane hooked an arm through Michelle’s, smiled, and said, “Let’s go get hitched.”

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